Ages

[counto]

I can't remember the exact page, but I know it's there in TSS

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Yes, I understand it that way too. Also, I think it's important to remember that there were several schisms. After all, we know Beatrice and Bertrand trained lions, and we know Lemony saw eagles being used for peaceful purposes. He saw this from VFD headquarters, which according to TBL, Lemony only went there as a teenager. So I think this schism that TSS refers to in this passage is not the Great VFD Schism that occurred around the time Lemony was kidnapped by VFD. This schism must have gone hand in hand with the question of the trained salmon that were caught, that is, already at the time of Mr. Anwistle's schism.

By my calculations, Mr. Anwistle's schism related events happened around 3 to 6 years ago. 20 years before the main events of asoue, Beatrice was captured by an eagle, indicating that the fight for the animals had already started, an event very characteristic of the schism of Mr. Anwistle. Another important event at this time was the birth of Fiona, and the beginning of the cultivation of the deadly fungus MM. There was also the capture of salmon, when Fioma was a baby. At this time, Beatrice was not yet married to Bertrand, however, she had already canceled her marriage to Lemony. There was the fight between the three Snickets and the waiters, a fight memorable enough for historians to record about it. Another important event was the fact that Lemony was presumed dead, Beatrice and Bertrand were married, and went to the island. While they were there, the AA facility burned down, and Mr. Anwistle was killed.

[Hermes]

I think this means that the evil side has now got control of the reptiles, owing to Olaf tricking them out of Bruce, as detailed earlier in TPP.

Dating the schism is hard, and this 'division of animals' thing works better with a later date for the schism. I don't think at this point anyone imagined that it had happened in Lemony's childhood; the most likely theory was that it was linked with L and B's breakup, and his sacking from the Daily Punctilio, about twenty years before ASOUE, but some passages suggest it is later still. Multiple schisms is the best answer, and is perhaps suggested by Kit's 'in every generation the schism gets worse and worse', but I doubt it was DH's original intention.

Regarding ages; I think Josephine's age has been retconned, and accept 'prematurely aged by a life of fear' as a plausible explanation. (It's true that Gregor is also refered to as old, but it may have been a well-spaced-out family, such as we know exist in VFD.) AS for Monty, his age is rather vague throughout. The obvious reading of his forty years of study is that they began at university (which he certainly attended, unlike most volunteers), making him now around sixty; but knowing how VFD works, he may have begun studying reptiles in his cradle. And while the reference to him in ATWQ makes him sound like a fellow-student, it's not certain that that's what he was, leaving his age then unclear as well.

[counto]

I'd say she'd be in her early 30's as well, she possibly looks older from 12/13 year old Lemony's perspective.

[Seymour Glass]

May 7, 2021 15:02:07 GMT -5 Hermes said:

Jean: It is not clear to me that Geraldine is thinking as coherently as you suggest; she is probably just being nice (by her own lights) to Esme.

Roxy: I think that in a school with just two teachers, it is likely that the students are not sorted by age. On the other hand there being just two teachers might well imply that the school is not of unlimited size, and suggest that it is only a secondary school (which I think is what 'preparatory' normally means in America anyway), in which case C must be quite close in age to the Baudelaires.

I think there are more than just two teachers at Prufrock.

[Hermes]

Well, according to Nero's lettr in TUA, teaching stops when Mr Remora and Mrs Bass stop working; the children just have to sit and stare at a camera.

[Esmé's meme is meh]

I nominate Semblance as Most Likely to be Dante in Disguise

[Glittery666]

I kind of think we should do another reread later this year in honour of the 20th anniversary.